I was born and raised in Ohio. I pursued my love of writing, reading, and photography through my bachelors degree in photojournalism at the University of Cincinnati. During college I interned at the Cincinnati Enquirer, worked as a staff photographer on the campus paper, The News Record, and was a founding member of the campus based media outlet The New Media Bureau. Some of the major news events I had the chance to cover during this time included, the 2008 presidential campaign, NCAA ranked athletics and the Midpoint Music Festival. In 2010, I graduated with departmental honors and received the 2010 Outstanding Photojournalism Track Graduate Award.

After graduation I moved to Rhode Island and became a staff photographer for the five community newspapers that comprise The Valley Breeze, an award winning community weekly newspaper. While in Rhode Island I had the opportunity to continue my education by attending the NPPA Northern Short Course in 2011 and was a Rhode Island Press Association award winner in 2012. I also freelanced for the Westerly Sun and East Bay Newspapers during my time in the Ocean State.

I moved back to Ohio in 2014 and was a staff photographer at the Chillicothe Gazette, "the oldest paper west of the Alleghenies," where I won five AP awards for my photography. I covered a wide variety of assignments for the paper including regular coverage of the Chillicothe Paints, the missing women of Chillicothe and an Honor Flight to Washington, D.C.

After working at the paper for nearly a year and a half I relocated to Greensboro, North Carolina with my family where I currently work as a special sections photographer for the News & Record and as the staff photographer for 1808: Greensboro's Magazine.

If you are interested in working with me, please send me an email at elisemanahan@gmail.com or send me a message using the form below.